Benefits of 5S

5S Fast & Simple

5S
should be more than just housekeeping. When properly implemented, 5S
is part of total Lean Manufacturing
Strategy. Many of the benefits and effects are systemic in
nature, i.e. they cannot be evaluated in isolation from the other
elements of Lean.

Nevertheless,
we have attempted to identify typical improvements in the table. Since there seems to be few documented, rigorous studies of
5S benefits, the improvements in this table come from the experience
of our clients and readers. they are necessarily anecdotal. Some
narratives about 5S experiences are at our Commentary
page.

Safety

Many
5S programs use Safety as one of the S'. An
organization's concern for safety can be a significant contributor
to morale and pride. It can be measured with Lost Time
Injury rates or other measures of safety performance.

Space

Cleaning out the junk will sometimes open significant space by itself. If an analysis and localized re-layout of departments is part of the 5S effort,
there may be significant savings. However, such space savings must be consolidated into larger blocks of space to be useful.

Productivity

Measurement of productivity can occur in many ways and at many levels such as overall factory productivity, work team
productivity or micro-motion productivity. Overall factory productivity is the most important from a competitive viewpoint but many other factors can influence this other than 5S.

Benefit

Potential
Improvement

Safety

Up
to 70% Reduction

Space

5%-60% Reduction

Productivity

15%-50%+
Increase

Pride
& Morale

Significantly Improved

Absenteeism

20%-50% Reduction

Wasted
Motion

20%-50%+ Reduction

Kaizen
Mind

Number
of Suggestions

1500%+ Increase

Pride & Morale

Pride
and morale are notoriously difficult to measure but critically
important. While there are survey tools for such
measurement, they are time-consuming. The practical effects
are seen primarily in absenteeism, turnover and productivity.

Absenteeism

Absenteeism
results from many causes but pride and
morale are two of the more important. Improvements in
absenteeism, if other factors remain constant, can be assumed as
resulting from increased pride and morale.

Wasted Motion

If
5S teams prepare before-and-after spaghetti diagrams, they can
measure reductions in walking distance. There are, however,
other motion savings at the micro level (reaching, bending, etc.)
that are more difficult to measure directly.

The Kaizen Mind

The rigor, discipline and analysis inherent in 5S can contribute to the
development of the "Kaizen Mind."
This is a culturally induced attitude of constantly looking for and
implementing improvement, particularly at the level of an individual
worker or a work team. For more on this see "The
DNA of Toyota" and Quick
& Easy Kaizen. One way to measure this is with the number of
suggestions per employee.